DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES
use" that were in fact for himself and his wife.
This prescribing was contrary to the College policy,
Physician Treatment of Self, Family Members, or
Others Close to Them.
ORDER
The Discipline Committee ordered: revocation of Dr.
Shuen’s certificate of registration; a reprimand; and
payment to the College for costs in the amount of
$40,720.00.
For complete details, please see the full decision at
www.cpso.on.ca. Select Find a Doctor and enter the
doctor’s name.
DR. NASEERUDDIN SYED
PRACTICE LOCATION: Peterborough
AREA OF PRACTICE: General Practice
HEARING INFORMATION: Admission; Statement of Agreed
Facts; Joint Submission on Penalty
On March 5, 2018, the Discipline Committee found
that Dr. Syed committed an act of professional mis-
conduct, in that he failed to maintain the standard of
practice of the profession.
INVESTIGATION ONE
In August 2014, Dr. Syed’s former nurse contacted
the College expressing concern regarding various as-
pects of Dr. Syed’s practice, including his prescribing
practices. Based on the information requested by the
College in April 2015 regarding claims for all moni-
tored drugs made by Dr. Syed’s patients, the College
commenced an investigation.
The College retained an expert who reviewed 25 of
Dr. Syed’s patient charts, pharmacy records, narcotic
monitoring system data and conducted an interview
with Dr. Syed. The expert stated that he had concerns
about Dr. Syed’s knowledge and judgment which may
expose his patients to possible harm. He also was of
the view that Dr. Syed’s skill was difficult to determine
due the extremely poor and woefully sparse documen-
tation on the charts reviewed. He concluded that 24 of
25 charts reviewed failed to meet the standards.
INVESTIGATION TWO
The College received information from two physi-
cians who practise in a methadone maintenance
practice in Peterborough. They outlined concerns re-
garding Dr. Syed’s prescribing of high doses and large
amounts of benzodiazepines to several methadone
patients. Concerns regarding serious or fatal respira-
tory depression were relayed. Six patients were iden-
tified and concerns were raised about an admission to
the local hospital’s Intensive Care Unit in the group
of patients due to recent benzodiazepine overdose.
Dr. Syed stated to the College investigator that he
was not aware that the six patients were being pre-
scribed methadone.
The manager of the pharmacy located at the same
address as Dr. Syed’s practice, relayed to the College
investigator concerns regarding the early release of
medications in patients claiming to have lost their
prescriptions and regarding the maximum dosages of
benzodiazepines being prescribed.
The College retained an expert who reviewed Dr.
Syed’s general medicine practice, including his pre-
scribing practice. After reviewing 10 patient charts,
pharmacy records and interviewing Dr. Syed, the
expert concluded, among other things, that there
were glaring absences of documentation in the vast
majority of charts reviewed, such that not one met
record-keeping standards.
COMPLAINT OF PATIENT E
In March 2015, the College received a complaint
from Patient E expressing concerns that Dr. Syed
failed to provide appropriate care when ordering
medications for him during a walk-in visit. Specifi-
cally, Dr. Syed prescribed a medication that Patient
E was allergic to, prescribed high doses of benzodi-
azepines, knowing that Patient E on methadone, and
has a general lack of knowledge concerning mental
health patients and is over-prescribing to them.
The College retained an expert who reviewed the
standard of care provided by Dr. Syed to Patient
E. The expert opined, in part, that not one of the
patient’s eight visits in 2015 contained the required
elements to meet the standards of record-keeping of
the College.
The expert opined that Dr. Syed demonstrated a
lack of knowledge concerning the management of
drug-seeking, habituated methadone patients and
ISSUE 4, 2018 DIALOGUE
79